When Amanda felt the immortal presence in the nightclub for the third night running... a presence that did not seek her out or attempt to locate her... she began to get curious. Slowly... the immortal thief would circulate about the club... attempting to get a bead on the mysterious immortal. But, as with any shifting mass of people, the situation kept changing. No matter where Amanda thought the other one was... by the time she got to that portion of the dance floor... whoever it was... had vanished... or moved on. It was as if it were a game... some silly child's game.
Just as she was giving up for another evening... just as she was ready to declare that either she was imagining things... or that the other immortal was stalking and teasing her with his presence... Amanda came face to face with a nice-looking young man who grasped his head in pain and shook it as if trying to clear it of whatever was bothering him.
Amanda paused.
The young man glanced up at her with a grimace... his drink sloshed in his glass as he shuddered. "Sorry about that... Been having the weirdest headaches lately." He steadied his glass, took a deep breath, and made to move past her.
"Head injury?" Amanda asked.
The young man turned back, still obviously feeling her closeness and attempting to somehow blink away whatever he was feeling. "I'm sorry... did you say something?"
"Have you recently been in an accident? Sustained a head injury?"
The young man nodded warily. "Yeah... I was hit by a car, a few weeks ago... knocked unconscious... but I was fine. How did you know?"
"Call it a wild guess!" Amanda purred as she took his arm and maneuvered him to an out-of-the-way table against the far wall. "Consider this a professional courtesy."
"Oh gee... you're not a pro like that other one the other night are you?"
Amanda slid into a seat and glanced up at the still-standing new immortal. "The other one?"
"Yeah!" He sat down next to her and shook his head... then glanced at her, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly. "A real wildcat! Practically attacked me here in the club. Really wanted a piece of me for some reason. I left with her..." He blew out a puff of air and then gulped his drink down. "Let's just say she was a little more than I bargained for."
Amanda smiled. "I'm not a pro as you put it... But I may be able to tell you why you have a headache right now... and more importantly, why you survived that auto accident without a scratch." Amanda lifted one slender hand and held it out in greeting. "My name's Amanda."
"Robert Sutton," the young man replied and gently grasped her proffered hand, shaking it slightly. "So... why do I keep having these headaches."
Amanda smiled at the unassuming young man before her. For a moment... when she'd first seen him... she'd felt more power from him than normal... as if he were older... with several kills beneath his belt. Now, as she regarded him, he felt only like a very new and very green immortal... one not yet even aware of what had happened to him. His thick brown hair hung to his shoulders... brown eyes... so like MacLeod's looked out at her from a full found and nicely proportioned face... straight aquiline nose... full sensuous lips... clean-shaven. He was nicely built as well. Amanda lay one hand on a well-muscled shoulder and asked, "Do you work out?"
"Yeah... some karate and judo... Why?"
"Oh... nothing," Amanda murmured, thinking these skills might come in handy. Already she was planning a training program for the young man.
"So... about these headaches? Are you a doctor?"
Amanda laughed, "No... sorry... I'm just not the healing type... I tend to be a very selfish person... I look after myself first... always have."
"So why should I listen to anything you have to say?"
"Because, dear boy... you and I are more alike than you can imagine. You died in that car crash."
"If I'd died... I'd be dead... not sitting in a nightclub talking to a beautiful woman."
Amanda nodded her appreciation of his compliment. "I said you died... not that you were dead. I know... I died almost twelve hundred years ago... and I'm still alive."
Robert Sutton chuckled. "That's a good line. Next you be telling me you know Santa Clause."
"No... but I did know Richard, the Lionheart." Amanda waited for the enormity of what she was saying to sink in.
The young newly immortal man threw back his head and laughed aloud, his shoulders shaking from his laughter. Finally he stopped and looked her over with amusement. "I think I'll leave on that note. I really don't like dealing with anyone more insane than me." He polished off his drink and stood to leave.
"If you ever decide you want to believe me... and find out more about who you are... what you are... how to survive... look me up. I'll be here."
Robert looked at her solemnly for a long moment and then nodded with a grin. He pointed a finger at her, "Right... catch you later. Call you!" He held his hand to his ear as if it were a telephone, the thumb and pinkie finger extended... the rest curled claw-like into his palm.
Once again... Amanda had a brief sense of someone older... someone far more powerful... then... as before... there was only young Robert Sutton. He ginned at her... as if he were some predator pulling her in. Then he shrugged and turned... walking away.
Amanda discovered she was intrigued. There was definitely more to this young immortal, than was immediately apparent! Perhaps she should keep a cautious eye on him. She watched him leave the club... then gathered her own things to follow him. She needed to know more about him... where he lived... what kind of person he was... who his friends were... before she made the next more. And she wanted to find out more about the pro he'd left with the other night.
***
Kenny stared at the illusory face of Robert Sutton in the mirror of the men's room at the next club. Amanda was following him and he needed to lose her. "You nearly blew it with that crack!" he snarled... directing his hatred toward Kell. For a moment the illusion of Jacob Kell flitted across the features of Robert Sutton. Kenny glanced about in the men's bathroom... anxious in case anyone had noticed. No one had. One man glanced over at him and smirked as if Kenny were crazy for talking to himself in the mirror.
"Gave some gal the wrong line... did you?" the man chuckled.
Kenny narrowed his eyes. He glared at the drunk mortal now lounging against the stall door with a smirk. Within his short jacket was a knife... all he dared carry for right now. The boyman contiued to glare at the drunk. "What are you looking at?" he snarled.
"Just another fool!" the mortal stood up straight... clapped him on the shoulder... then walked out.
Behind him in the men's room... Kenny altered his appearance slightly, and masked his presence so that Amanda would not realize it was him as he passed her, and followed. As the other man left the club... Kenny followed him.
Fog drifted about the London streets in the midnight hour... cold white wispy fog that slowly obscured everything.
Kenny followed the laughing man and his friends. When his target peeled off to head for his own apartment, Kenny sped up. Quickly and with very little wasted movement of effort... he rammed the sharp knife into the man's kidneys again and again. Then he pushed him against a wall.
"Laugh at me will you... I do not like being laughed at." Kenny drew the knife across the man's throat and watched him fall to the ground... dying in a pool of blood." Within him... Kurgan laughed... strangely satisfied.
Kenny leaned over and wiped his knife on the dead man's clothes, kicked the body then walked off... once more slightly changing his appearance as he did so. He'd give it three or four days before he looked up Amanda again... he'd seen the suspicion in her eyes. The ones within had to understand that they needed to follow his lead on this seduction. Despite his relative youth... he knew Amanda best. He knew the things that appealed to her... the things that interested her... and the things that made her suspicious. If he was to have her... get her to want him... kiss him... even in illusion... they needed to let him be in control.
Meanwhile... he had other fish to fry... so to speak.
***
Claudia Jardine shuffled through the music for her concert and glared at the piano tuner who was taking far too long with this simple adjustment. She wanted to practice... and the fool kept tinkering with the tuning. The others of her entourage had left for lunch... and still this fool was tinkering.
"Are you even a competent tuner?" Claudia bleated at him. "Are you certain you even know what you are doing?"
"The man looked up at her, "You do want it perfect don't you, miss. I have perfect pitch... Trust me... This will be perfect... your concert will be memorable!"
Claudia paced about the stage... moving one hand back and forth as she read the music and heard her playing it within her mind.
Finally the tuner was finished. He bowed at her and gestured for her to give it a try.
Claudia let her fingers play up and down the keys... running patterns of memorized music that she used for warm-ups. She smiled. "It is perfect!" She took a seat on the bench and began to play... squealing in delight. "Maybe I should hire you for all my concerts!"
"Now that would be most interesting," the man behind her murmured. Unseen... his form shimmered until his face darkened and he leered at her with obvious desire. He looked about to be absolutely certain they were alone in the auditorium.
Satisfied... the man reached forward... as if caressing her hair... his tongue darted in and out of his mouth as he shifted in delight. Then he slipped his arms about her and felt her form beneath his fingers.
Startled... Claudia turned on the bench... her eyes widened as she pushed at him. "Hey!"
He grasped her head and kissed her... hard... his tongue darting into her mouth, invading her. His hands held her struggling body as she continued to push at him. He pulled back and grinned.
"Who are you?" Claudia asked. "Where did you come from?" For a moment instead of fear or anger... Claudia was intrigued by the black man hovering over her... looking at her with such open desire. His fingers trailing over her lips inflamed her for some reason. He smiled... then drew out a sword.
"Didn't feel me... did you... little girl? Too bad we don't have more time... you'd be so nice to play with... but MacLeod's on his way."
Claudia opened her mouth to scream... and felt the sharp edge of the sword slice through her neck.
***
Duncan MacLeod felt the quickening explode even as he pushed through the heavy glass doors and entered the lobby of the concert hall. Pushing past a crowd of people milling about in the lobby he threw open the auditorium doors even as the quickening faded away. On the stage he saw a body... Claudia's body. Near it was her severed head. About the stage he could smell the ozone from the exploded lights. Duncan closed his eyes and backed away. Around him curious workers began to enter... Duncan knew he had to leave... he couldn't be here... not now.
Tears blinding him... he stumbled through those forcing their way in and soon he was out once more in the lobby. He was too late! They were dying... all his friends were dying! It was as if someone was targeting the immortals whom he'd befriended over the years... the ones whose heads he could have taken if he'd been so inclined... his students... his lovers... those he cared about.
Already sirens were approaching. Duncan did not wish to be interviewed... nor explain how it was that he was carrying a sword. He slipped out of the concert hall's side door and was returning to his car when he sensed another.
Looking about... he saw a woman... one who looked amazingly like Grace Chandel smile at him warmly from across the street. She thrust her hands into the pockets of her long coat and slowly turned to walk up the street.
"Grace?" Stunned, Duncan followed... crossing through the traffic. By the time he reached the other side... the woman had apparently vanished. He raced up the street... grabbing at several pedestrians... but he did not see her... did not feel her. It was as if she had been only a ghost... some vagrant memory... a chance illusion of a life that might have been.